Patient Comments: Swimmer's Ear - Symptoms

Question:

Describe the symptoms you experienced with swimmer's ear. What were your first symptoms?
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Comment from: Loulou, 45-54 Female (Patient)Published: October 04

I had an itchy ear for weeks, and one morning woke up to a swollen, extraordinarily painful ear, swollen glands, and a pulsing pain on one side of my face. The antibiotic/steroid worked, but took 8 days for the swimmer's ear to clear up. Be patient.

My symptoms of swimmer's ear were earache and fever, I felt pulse in my ear, was unable to chew, and had trouble sleeping.

Comment from: A Padre, 35-44 Male (Patient)Published: June 05

I had severe pain in one ear at first and then in both when I was travelling through Southeast Asia. I always used cotton swabs after bath to dry my ear canal. Both Jaws were immovable because of the pain from swimmer's ear. I had fever on and off, and joint pain. I tried over the counter medicines like ibuprofen Denk 600, hydrogen peroxide drops and no difference. I was getting worse and consulted a doctor (where no ENTs were available at most clinics) and was prescribed a Candibiotic ear drops (5 drops in each ear for 1hour 3 times a day), Fexiwel-200 (1-0-1), and Etorifar 90 (1-0-1) for five days. I felt much better in a day and was happy to get rid of the nasty pain. If you don't want to suffer the pain and constant worry of taking temperature and bothering (because of the fever, tiredness, joint pain and inability to sleep) go see a doctor.

Comment from: maddire .R, 19-24 Female (Patient)Published: July 05

I experienced swimmer's ear the day I went swimming. My ear started to hurt and by evening my ear was swollen shut. I have been putting peroxide in it for two days now and it has done nothing. I am able to make my ear pop but besides that it did nothing.

Comment from: Willprat, 65-74 Male (Patient)Published: June 06

First time swimmer's ear has happened to me, the pain is horrendous. My ear feels full and feels like it is going to explode. My gums on the right are aching, also jaw, and it is hard to eat. It is stopping me from sleeping. I am on antibiotic. I think they are a waste of time. I also feel pulse in my ear along with other symptoms. I am in agony and cannot sleep.

Comment from: Jelly, 19-24 Female (Patient)Published: July 07

I have an ear infection (swimmer's ear) since last 15 days. I have tried many things to get rid of it. But nothing works. Then I saw your ideas regarding this. It seems interesting as well as excellent. Now I am going to apply your ideas. Thanks for sharing wonderful ideas!

Comment from: kevin_farhan, 25-34 Male (Patient)Published: July 05

My kids get hit with swimmer's ear pretty hard, especially during the summertime months in Seattle. We're pretty uncomfortable using drop style methods since they're a nightmare to administer to our kids. My wife found a device that vibrates the lodged water out of your ear canal. It works pretty well.

Comment from: Scuba Diver, 35-44 Female (Patient)Published: August 28

I am a scuba diving instructor and dive on a daily basis in the pool during teaching or in open water. In the last few years I encountered only 3-4 times ear problems, but not severe. Usually it's gone in 3 to 7 days maximum spread over a long time. Lately after a dive I had a feeling of fullness, as if water was trapped in my ear. I was jumping up and down to get the trapped water out, however not much success. Next day, this feeling continued but no pain. So I went diving, making one of my worst health mistakes. During the dive my ear started to hurt, even though I could equalize perfectly, so inside the ear, everything was apparently okay. Next dive, it got worse. I went to the doctor the same day, who explained to me that the ear canal was so swollen that he can't see the eardrum. So no diving for 2 weeks. I'm using Augmentin, and ofloxacin ear drops. First week I had immense pain, second week no pain or just a little. I went to the doctor again, just to get a clearance for diving. Bang! Perforated eardrum, 6-8 weeks no diving. Now I'm on ciprofloxacin and again on ofloxacin ear drops. So I don't know if the rupture was there from the beginning or developed later. If you have any kind of ear anomaly don't go swimming or never ever go diving!

Comment from: WaterBaby75, 35-44 Female (Patient)Published: July 31

I am a Pisces and a water lover by nature! I recently moved into a lakefront condo with a beautiful swimming pool, so my husband and children and I all took swims on a regular basis, sometimes as often as three or more times a week. I had only heard of swimmer's ear but had never experienced it firsthand. On a Friday evening at around 6, I noticed my ear beginning to itch. The itching went on throughout the night, and by the next Saturday morning, I woke up with crust around the opening of the ear and it felt full like I had water in it. I used Q-tips to try to clear the "water-in-the-ear" feeling (which I can't stand!), but it didn't help. This went on throughout the day. I woke up Sunday morning at around 2:30 a.m. in excruciating pain. The whole side of my right face was swollen and throbbing in pain. I knew it was the ear, but I also felt pain in my head, face, neck, throat, and jaw. It was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life! I ended up in the ER where they informed me that I had otitis externa (swimmer's ear) and prescribed antibiotic and numbing eardrops. I will never ever swim again without earplugs!